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The medical or surgical procedure of severe heartburn prevents cancer of the oesophagus, according to a study revealed in JAMA oncology.

Previous studies haven’t once and for all described that reflux medication or anti-reflux surgery prevent oesophageal cancer, however, the studies haven’t been sufficiently massive or had enough follow-up time to confirm that conclusions are drawn on any long cancer-preventive effects.

For this study, John Maret-Ouda, MD, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues used health knowledge records from 1964 to 2014 from the five Nordic countries. Of the 942,906 patients with reflux within the study, 894,492 received medical treatment and a couple of,368 patients (0.3%) developed oesophageal cancer throughout the follow-up amount. the chance of oesophageal cancer decreased over time following treatment and was the same as that of the corresponding population once ≥15 years in people who received medication.

Of the more than forty-eight,414 patients who had anti-reflux surgery, 177 (0.4%) developed oesophageal cancer throughout the follow-up amount. the chance of oesophageal cancer additionally fell during this cluster and was at a constant level as within the corresponding population ≥15 years once the operation.

When the patients with reflux who had an operation were compared with those with reflux who received medication, the patients who had been operated on had a rather higher risk of oesophageal cancer throughout the whole follow-up amount; however, the chance didn’t increase over time. This can be most likely caused by the actual fact that the patients who underwent surgery had additional serious reflux from the start.

“The results show that effective medical or surgical procedure of reflux prevents cancer of the oesophagus,” said Dr. Maret-Ouda. “But as a result of the individual’s risk of developing oesophageal cancer is low, even in those with reflux illness, the results don’t justify treating reflux solely as a cancer-preventive measure. The symptoms and complications of reflux illness should still govern treatment.”

However, he points out that for the little proportion of individuals with severe reflux together with alternative risk factors for oesophageal cancer, like obesity, male gender, and mature age, effective and continuous medical treatment or an operation to treat reflux is usually recommended.

“Previous analysis results have shown poor cancer-preventive effects from anti-reflux surgery,” terminated Jesper Lagergren, MD, Karolinska Institutet. “The distinction now’s that for the primary time we are able to show statistically important results as a result of we’ve got a sufficiently large study with a long follow-up amount of over fifteen years following the operation.”

 

“We offer no incision less option for reflux”